David Rivkin and Bruce Brown have a fascinating op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on libel tourism. Railing against the chilling effects of libel tourism on free speech, Rivkin and Brown review some of the most interesting recent cases, including Bin Mahfouz’s suit against Rachel Ehrenfeld. However, interestingly, Rivkin and Brown also reject many of the proposed legislative responses in the US to libel tourism (and in particular, those prompted by the Ehrenfeld case) on the grounds that they sweep too many foreign libel cases into American courtrooms. The Forum has just published its own briefing paper on problems related to libel tourism. It is available here:http://www.globallawforum.org/UserFiles/puzzle22New(1).pdf
Rivkin and Brown on Libel Tourism
